Matthew Andrew Linville Could Get 3 Years and Sex Offender Tag for Grabbing Women's Butts

Update No. 4 on Page 2 has the charges and possible prison time facing (first name corrected) Matthew Andrew Linville. Update No. 3 at the bottom of the next page is on why police suspect him. Update No. 2 is on the 19-year-old's arrest. Update No. 1 is on a groper having apparently struck twice at Bella Terra Mall.

ORIGINAL POST, SEPT. 5, 10:19 A.M.: Police in Huntington Beach are searching for a man who tried to sexually assault a 28-year-old jogger.

But, based on the artist's rendering of the suspect released by the cops, I can't tell if I'm looking at the suspect or the jogger.

I mean, come on, kinda hot, right?

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Am I the only seeing this?

The woman was running in the area of Huntington Village Lane and Center Avenue around 6:45 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 28, when she noticed a man following her. So she ran toward the Artisan Apartments, where she lives, and got behind an unlocked gate thinking he might not follow.

She thought wrong.

The man confronted her, tore her shirt, threw her to the ground, grabbed her and assaulted her. But her screams for help woke a neighbor who rushed out of his unit, prompting the attacker to flee.

Besides the composite sketch, Huntington Beach Police released this description of the sicko based on two witness accounts: Hispanic, 5-foot-10 or -11, 140 pounds with short dark hair and last seen wearing a light gray T-shirt, dark jeans and black shoes with orange laces.

Anyone with information that can help catch the chick, I mean, guy is asked to call HBPD Detective Tunstall at 714.536.5995.

UPDATE NO. 1, SEPT. 18, 10:03 A.M.: Police believe the same man who grabbed a handful of lady jogger in Huntington Beach on Aug. 28 struck again last Friday (the 13th!).

Twice!

The attacker in the latest crimes fit the same general description in the original post–right down to the black shoes with orange laces–and now police have added a target age: 23 to 27.

The sexual batteries happened between 10:40 a.m. and 11:44 a.m. in the lingerie department of the Burlington Coat Factory at Bella Terra Mall as well as the center's parking structure at 7777 Edinger Ave., according to police.

Besides the composite sketch from the jogger attack, police released video from outside the coat store, although the only version with an embed code I could find came from KABC7 television, so you have to watch a brief commercial first (sorry):

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Huntington Beach Police Department at 714.375.5066. The PD's advisory is on the next page …[

UPDATE NO. 2, SEPT. 19, 10:39 A.M.: A 19-year-old man is reportedly behind bars for the groping of four women in separate incidents in Huntington Beach and Westminster dating back to last month.

Mathew Matthew Andrew Linville is being held on $100,000 bail, according to City News Service.

UPDATE NO. 3, SEPT. 19, 11:23 A.M.: The police department has released more details on what led to the arrest of Matthew Andrew Linville, 19, of Huntington Beach Westminster, on suspicion of intent to commit rape and sexual battery.

Huntington Beach cops originally said two females were groped at Bella Terra Mall on Friday, but now they are saying there were three attacks, which prompted plain-clothes officers to patrol the shopping center near Beach Boulevard and the 405 freeway, according to Huntington Beach Police Lt. Mitch O'Brien.

It was discovered that Linville, who works part time in a mall business, resembles the young man in composite sketch that police released after a female jogger was assaulted the morning of Aug. 28, O'Brien reportedly told City News Service. That attack happened in the area of Huntington Village Lane and Center Avenue, which is also near the mall and Old World Village.

Meanwhile, police believe Linville was responsible for another attack Friday in Westminster and fear he committed others elsewhere, O'Brien mentioned. Anyone who thinks they know or were a victim is asked to call 714.375.5066.

Linville is in the process of being transferred from the city jail to Orange County Jail, where he is to be held in lieu of $100,000 bail.[UPDATE NO. 4, SEPT. 23, 9:23 A.M.: Matthew Andrew Linville pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Friday on charges of grabbing the butts of women he did not know in public.

The Westminster 19-year-old, who was held on $100,000 bail, now has a pre-trial hearing scheduled Sept. 30 at the West Justice Center in his hometown, where he faces one felony count of false imprisonment by violence and four misdemeanor counts of sexual battery.

If convicted, he could get three years in state prison and mandatory lifetime sex offender registration.

An Orange County District Attorney's office arraignment statement gives more details about his alleged crimes:

– At about 6:45 a.m. on Aug. 28, 2013, Linville is accused of grabbing a 34-year-old female jogger's butt, pushing her to the ground and groping her.

– At about 10:40 a.m. on Sept. 13, he allegedly grabbed the butt and touched the left breast (over the dress) of a 43-year-old woman shopping at Burlington Coat Factory in Bella Terra Mall.

– At about 11:20 a.m. on Sept. 13, Linville is accused of lifting up from behind the skirt of a 34-year-old woman at the Bella Terra parking structure, grabbing her buttocks and fleeing.

– At about 11:45 a.m. on Sept. 13, he allegedly walked up behind a 48-year-old woman preparing for a lesson at Hoover Golf Center in Westminster and grabbed her butt.

Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the paper’s first calendar editor. He went on to be managing editor, executive editor and is now senior staff writer.